Published on Thursday, February 2, 2017 By Island Dog In Press Releases (GalCiv III)

Plymouth, MI. February 2, 2017 - Stardock announced Crusade, the long awaited expansion to its popular space 4X strategy game Galactic Civilizations today.

The expansion adds a host of much anticipated features such as interactive planetary invasions, espionage, galactic citizens, a civilization builder, new playable civilizations, a new campaign, an updated diplomacy system, an updated graphics engine and much more.

"Our focus with Crusade has been to create a much deeper yet more approachable space strategy game," said Paul Boyer, Lead Designer of Galactic Civilizations III. "At the heart of your civilization are your citizens. What you do with your citizens, whether that be training them to be scientists, engineers, farmers, soldiers, diplomats, merchants and where you send them will determine how your civilization evolves."

Galactic Civilizations III: Crusade adds an extensive list of features, many of which fans have been asking for. A few notable examples include:

Interactive Invasions. Conquering an entire planet is no small feat. Now, players will take citizens that have been trained as soldiers and battle it out across the planet's surface. Invaders choose where they will land and defenders will choose where they will resist, both decisions requiring considerable strategic thinking.

Galactic Citizens: The player's agency within their civilizations are now expressed through their citizens. Citizens are created every several turns and can be specialized by the player into numerous specializations to help boost their civilization globally or to enhance a specific planet.

Espionage: Citizens trained as spies can now be used to to take down adversaries from behind the scenes. Players can use spies to destroy planetary improvements, steal technology or assassinate enemy agents.

Civilization Builder: From the main menu players can now design their own unique civilization including all the ships that player will use for each role. Players can design their own custom ships or download any of the over 12,000 ships that are available via Steam Workshop. With the Civilization Builder, players can literally create any fantasy or sci-fi civilization they can imagine and pit them against each other.

Crusade: The new single-player campaign introduces players to some of the new alien civilizations that the expansion introduces as well as provides a story-driven narrative of making the mistake that those soft, pink hominids of Sol 3 are push-overs.

Galactic Civilizations III: Crusade is set to release this Spring for $19.99 for existing Galactic Civilizations III owners. A weekly Development Diary going over the major new features begins today. Visit www.galciv3.com to see the first one.

About Stardock: Stardock is a developer and publisher of PC games and desktop software founded in 1991 by nationally recognized technology expert Brad Wardell. Located in Plymouth, Michigan, Stardock is a powerful leader in the video gaming and software development world. Its PC games include Sins of a Solar Empire, the critically acclaimed Galactic Civilizations series, and Ashes of the Singularity. Stardock puts the user experience first through software that enriches the Windows experience for everyone from casual computer users to highly technical professionals. Products offered by Stardock include Start8, Start10, Fences, WindowBlinds, Multiplicity, and more.